Spoiler Alert!

I am one of those weird people that like to read the end of the book first. If someone tells me the end of something, it does not ruin it for but I treat it like a mystery novel where I know who gets murdered at the end but I do not know the how. This view, however, is not shared by most. Spoiler culture has become a major part of media nowadays. I noticed this the most when it comes to reporting on films, books, video games and other narrative material. It appears that having a spoiler warning in the headlines of an article or video that discusses a narrative of some sort has become a standard rule. Does knowing the events of a narrative before even consuming actually ruin it? The internet in general gives people access to spoiler type information. I question the consumers’ experience with my video “Spoiler Alert”, a compilation of some of the biggest plot twist and endings to movies, games, and TV.

Vulture.com reported on a New York Times incident where an article had spoiled the end of hit documentary series, The Jinx. Social media went into an outrage as people posted about New York Times not giving any warning for the spoilers that were in the article. The Vulture article posted reactions from twitter one being from Liz Meriwether tweeting,

As a West coast fan of The Jinx, I'd like to make a formal complaint against the New York Times app push notifications.

The author Ben Williams does not side with the upset fans of Jinx, instead, he believes the whole nature of spoiler culture is ridiculous. He states “spoiler-alert culture can essentially translate into everyone else in the world tiptoeing around the one person who didn’t get around to watching that show that finished five years ago yet.” The Internet gives people access to all sort of information that gives away spoilers as it plays in the encyclopedic affordance. Wikipedia is part of that affordance as it gives, consumers, access to detailed plots about TV shows, movies, and etc. Most consumers going into a series after its initial release already know much about the media they are about to consume yet they still choose to consume it because they want to.

My video question’s whether the experience is ruined if you know the ending by revealing major plot points from narratives across different platforms. Within the video itself I still add a spoiler warning before I start spoiling plot lines. The video still gives consumers a choice if they want to view this item or not but if they choose to watch there is no warning of what will be spoiled. There is still a risk to watching. I genuinely want to know if it ruins the experience for those who will watch it or if has another effect on their viewing experience.